Can anyone give me a quick primer on inexpensive convertibles?

aaiya

New member
Today we graduated DD from her bucket to our "extra" Radian XTSL that had been previously living in DH's truck (extended-cab). This leaves us with a pressing (but not urgent) need for at least one new convertible seat for DH's truck. We'll need another one before too long--but we can still use the bucket for a bit.

In my ideal world, I'd have hundreds of dollars to drop on the seats I really want (Cobalt Radian RXT :love:) for the few occasions DH takes the kids somewhere in his truck. In reality, I'd like to do this as cheaply as possible. I get that all carseats on the market have to pass the minimum safety stuff. The last time I looked in to carseats (like 4-5 years ago) I remember a general steer-clear-of-Dorel vibe (something about not issuing recalls when they should? Not cool with me). And Dorel makes all the really inexpensive seats, right? Have they cleaned up their act? Are there other competing brands I should look at?
 
ADS

Brigala

CPST Instructor
In addition to the seats mentioned in the blog linked above, there is now the (Dorel) Safety 1st Guide 65 Sport, $78 at Walmart. It looks very promising and will last longer by height & weight than any of the other under-$100 seats available.

But it's still Dorel. And there are still some Dorel Trust Issues that linger.
 

Syllieann

New member
In addition to the seats mentioned in the blog linked above, there is now the (Dorel) Safety 1st Guide 65 Sport, $78 at Walmart. It looks very promising and will last longer by height & weight than any of the other under-$100 seats available.

But it's still Dorel. And there are still some Dorel Trust Issues that linger.

I almost bought one of these for dd but there's this little nagging feeling about using the headrest above the top of the shell. I understand that it passes testing that way BUT the test bench presumably doesn't have another seat in front of it. Does anyone have any concerns about how this would pan out in the real world? Would your opinion change if it was 2-3" from the seat vs. just barely touching the front seat? It does have eps foam in the headrest but I just can get over this little detail.
 

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